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Last week, we noted that the word civilization relates to the Latin word “civitas” or city. This is why the most basic definition of the word civilization is a society made up of cities. The word civilization and civilized society is used to differentiate between societies that are culturally superior and those that are found to be culturally inferior which are referred to as “savage” or “barbaric” cultures. In their crudest sense, they are referred to as the Hobbessian state of nature where life is short, nasty and brutish and where might is right. It then implies that civilization has some kind of urban settlements and cannot be nomadic.
Nomadic life entails the movement of a person, family or class of people from place to place. There’s no permanent abode for a nomad. He is essentially a mobile squatter because he moves through other people’s lands. Most times, he moves with his family that includes little children of academic age but who, unfortunately, cannot be educated because of the ever changing locations of the nomad. The nomadic herdsman shepherds his cattle and sheep from place to place on foot from North to South, using the forest routes for his movement to enable his herds graze on plants found on lands along those routes. This system is known as open grazing.
Before the arrival of terrorism in Nigeria, the open grazing culture was the predominant method of feeding the herds. However, with the advent of terrorism into the Nigerian situation in 2009, the equation changed. Initially when the terrorists launched their first attacks against the Nigerian state, they were roundly defeated by the security forces in the cities and they headed to the forests from where they continued launching attacks on soft targets till date.
The first casualty of the terrorists when they headed to the forests after being defeated in the cities by the security forces, were the innocent Fulani herdsmen who were the forest masters before terrorism. They rustled their cattle to feed their soldiers in the forests, chief among the forests being the Sambisa forest. They indoctrinated the children of the innocent Fulani herdsmen into terrorism and induced them with drugs. The herdsmen whose cattle were rustled without any alternative means of livelihoods took to banditry, kidnapping and robbery to survive. Obviously, since nomadic animal husbandry is predominantly the occupation of the Fulanis, it then follows that the resultant criminality from the fall out of displacement from the forests will be perpetrated by mostly the Fulanis.
The terrorists initially disguised themselves as Fulani herdsmen and used the forest routes to spread the banditry and kidnapping throughout the country under the pretext of open grazing. That was when purported herdsmen started defending their cattle with AK 47s. It is as a result of this criminality, which the open grazing provided a cover for, that made Nigerians from every quarter rise against open grazing and unanimously called for its ban and in its place buid ranches to accommodate the cattle and sheep of the herdsmen within a secured and secluded environment. Kano State and Katsina State have started building ranches, while Benue State took the lead in abolishing open grazing because it was in the forefront then of the attacks from the killer herdsmen. All these States are in the Northern part of Nigeria. The Southern Governors in their meeting unanimously adopted the ban on open grazing with an assurance to promulgate a law legalizing the ban. It was very surprising then to hear Governor Ayade of Cross Rivers State describing the action of his colleagues in banning open grazing as an attempt to “illegitimize the legitimate trade of a people”.
First, this is factually incorrect. There’s no where in the communique of the Southern Governors where they illegitimized or banned animal husbandry or rearing of herds which is the legitimate occupation of the Fulanis. They cannot even afford to do this because beef is the greatest source of animal protein in the South till date. What they banned is the illegitimate destruction of the farmland of the farmers by the herds which eat them up and the attendant criminality associated with it, which manifests in open grazing.
Let us be clear, anybody who is today encouraging open grazing is the greatest hater of the Fulanis. Is anybody in any state of doubt that no Fulani nomadic family can trek from Sokoto or Maiduguri to Lagos or Calabar without meeting their waterloo in the hands of either the terrorists, or bandits or kidnappers or cattle rustlers or hostile communities in the South which might want to take revenge on the innocent Fulani herdsmen for the atrocities committed against their kinsmen by the rogue elements disguising as Fulani herdsmen. Dangiwa Umar, the former Governor of Kaduna State, himself a Fulani from Kebbi, put it succinctly, “You should, however, note that one of the problems that led to the recent worsening relations between herders and farmers is growing incidence of banditry and kidnappings in which rogue Fulanis as distinct from herdsmen, are largely implicated. The fact that herders and some of these criminals share ethnic identity, being Fulanis, makes the herder culpable in a case of mistaken identity. It is true that the herder is often guilty of trespass, but is hardly involved in banditry and kidnappings. Actually, many herders are also victims of these crimes perpetrated by their kinsmen. We must realise and be aware of this distinction, otherwise all Fulanis are in danger of negative profiling and indiscriminate reprisal attacks.”
If every Fulani is in danger of attacks as a result of the prevailing security situation in Nigeria, exacerbated by open grazing, as well defined by Umar, a Fulani, it then means that the essence of Governor Ayade’s purported solidarity with open grazing, in his nebulous imagination of “defending the occupation of his Fulani brothers from Yobe State” is aptly misplaced. Ayade cannot defend a helpless Fulani family under attacks in Cross Rivers State talk more of Nigeria. Let him first of all defend Yobe State from the terrorist attacks of their own Boko Haram brothers before contemplating his unsolicited defence of their occupation in Cross Rivers State through unguarded utterance of an ambiguous open grazing management strategy which portrays him as a man who wants to blow hot and cold at the same time. In one breath, he is siding with his “Southern Governors brothers” in open grazing, being a team player, in another breath, he is siding with his “Yobe Fulani brothers” being a defender of their occupation. We implore our leaders to be more circumspect when they embark on some self-serving, truth-challenged and politically correct statements spued out to enhance their political career to the detriment of the unity and cohesion of the Nigerian people.
Apart from the conflict generated by this open grazing between farmers and herdsmen, this method of rearing cattle has simply become obsolete and incompatible with a civilized world. It is impossible for any ancient grazing route in Nigeria that ran through the forests from North to South not to pass through a very large city which evolved from modernization and civilization of our country. It is also impossible for any herdsman to move his cattle through land from North to South without committing criminal trespass on other people’s land as the forests keep diminishing. Dangiwa bluntly puts it this way “It is true that the herder is often guilty of trespass”. In my recent trip to London, I drove around the city and could not sight any cattle roaming the streets. So also Dubai, which is predominantly an Arab state made up of majority Muslims, who were originally nomads in the ancient, uncivilised world. This contributes greatly to the neatness of these cities and orderliness of traffic. It is no wonder why these two cities attract the most tourists in the world.
I came back to Nigeria to the warm embrace of cows and sheep in Abuja, the Federal Capital City of Nigeria, struggling with me for a right of way along the roads, with some of the herds defecating along the roads and spreading diseases such as cholera to the population through contaminated streams which result from animal faeces being washed by rains into streams that some indigent citizens drink. According to Dangiwa Umar, “the primordial method of livestock farming which has the herder roaming in search of pasture and water intensifes the confict”. Primordial means ancient, before civilization, before men started living in cities and as such an uncivilised manner of rearing animals. We must arise as a country to embrace ranching and abolish this ancient, uncivilised system of animal husbandry called open grazing that has drawn much tears and blood from all of us.
Another sign of uncivilization in us is the gross incompetence and corruption of our bureaucracy and civil service. We said last week that the simplest and most profound definition of civilization is that it is the quality of excellence in thought, manners and taste. Our civil service is simply not excellent, not even average. While in the UK, I found out that the hot water ceased to flow in the house one morning and I alerted the landlord. He quickly put a call across to the Council which promised to come the next day to rectify it. Before I woke up the next day, it was done. In Nigeria, people build their own boreholes, their own solar panels for electricity, their own security for protection and so on. In some instances where the government is in charge of the facilities, they have become dilapidated to such extent that they cannot serve the people. Even the Aso clinic cannot treat the inhabitants of Aso Rock. People living in such apartments have given up attempts at reporting any malfunctioning of their infrastructure to the appropriate authorities because the people responsible for the repairs will not come when called upon to do so and when they come they will corruptly compel the person to pay astronomical amount for the repair of damaged things that the individual will prefer doing it personally. Inefficiency or ineffectiveness is a sign of uncivilization. Whereas the bureaucracy abroad brings development to their countries, our own bureaucracy breaks down our infrastructure to become moribund. We need to overhaul our mentality and minds. When you are doing your work well, you are doing it for your own good and that of your children yet unborn not for someone else, because a better society benefits all.
